Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Sharing a Content Object in a Document

ABSTRACT

An electronic device with a display: concurrently displays a first electronic document and a second electronic document, the first electronic document including a displayed content object; detects a first user input that starts on the content object; in response to a determination that the first user input corresponds to a first command, creates and displays a copy of the content object in the second electronic document; and, in response to a determination that the first user input corresponds to a second command, distinct from the first command: selects the content object; displays an animation of the content object separating from the first electronic document; and initiates display of a plurality of icons proximate to the separated content object, the plurality of icons including at least one icon to initiate display of a user interface for sending the content object to one or more other users.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority on U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 61/599,375, filed Feb. 15, 2012, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This relates generally to electronic devices that display objects in agraphical user interface, including but not limited to electronicdevices that display content objects in documents.

BACKGROUND

Manipulation of user interface objects on a display is common oncomputers and other electronic computing devices. For example, a usermay want to move text, graphics, a digital image, a digital video, orsome other content object from one electronic document to anotherelectronic document, or the user may want to send the content object toanother user. Such manipulations may be performed using any of a varietyof input devices, such as a touch-sensitive surface (e.g., touch pad ortouch screen) or a mouse.

But existing methods for sharing content objects are cumbersome andinefficient, often requiring several steps or resort to obscure menucommands, for example. This is tedious and creates a significantcognitive burden on a user. In addition, existing methods take longerthan necessary, thereby wasting energy. This latter consideration isparticularly important in battery-operated devices.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, there is a need for electronic devices with faster, moreefficient methods and interfaces for sharing content objects in adocument. Such methods and interfaces may complement or replaceconventional methods for sharing content objects in a document. Suchmethods and interfaces reduce the cognitive burden on a user and producea more efficient human-machine interface. For battery-operated devices,such methods and interfaces conserve power and increase the time betweenbattery charges.

The above deficiencies and other problems associated with userinterfaces for electronic devices that display content objects arereduced or eliminated by the disclosed devices. In some embodiments, thedevice is a desktop computer. In some embodiments, the device isportable (e.g., a notebook computer, tablet computer, or handhelddevice). In some embodiments, the device has a touchpad. In someembodiments, the device has a touch-sensitive display (also known as a“touch screen” or “touch screen display”). In some embodiments, thedevice has a graphical user interface (GUI), one or more processors,memory and one or more modules, programs or sets of instructions storedin the memory for performing multiple functions. In some embodiments,the user interacts with the GUI primarily through finger contacts andgestures on the touch-sensitive surface. In some embodiments, thefunctions may include image editing, drawing, presenting, wordprocessing, website creating, disk authoring, spreadsheet making, gameplaying, telephoning, video conferencing, e-mailing, instant messaging,workout support, digital photographing, digital videoing, web browsing,digital music playing, and/or digital video playing. Executableinstructions for performing these functions may be included in anon-transitory computer readable storage medium or other computerprogram product configured for execution by one or more processors.

In accordance with some embodiments, a method is performed at anelectronic device with a display. The method includes: concurrentlydisplaying a first electronic document and a second electronic documenton the display, the first electronic document including a displayedcontent object; detecting a first user input that starts on the contentobject; in response to a determination that the first user inputcorresponds to a first command, creating and displaying a copy of thecontent object in the second electronic document; and, in response to adetermination that the first user input corresponds to a second command,distinct from the first command: selecting the content object,displaying an animation of the content object separating from the firstelectronic document, and initiating display of a plurality of iconsproximate to the separated content object, the plurality of iconsincluding at least one icon to initiate display of a user interface forsending the content object to one or more other users.

In accordance with some embodiments, a method is performed at anelectronic device with a display. The method includes: displaying afirst electronic document on the display, the first electronic documentincluding a displayed content object; detecting a first user input onthe content object; and in response to detecting the first user input:selecting the content object, displaying an animation of the contentobject separating from the first electronic document, visuallydeemphasizing the first electronic document relative to the separatedcontent object, and initiating display of a plurality of icons proximateto the separated content object, the plurality of icons including atleast one icon to initiate display of a user interface for sending thecontent object to one or more other users.

In accordance with some embodiments, a method is performed at anelectronic device with a display. The method includes: displaying afirst electronic document on the display, the first electronic documentincluding a displayed content object; detecting a first user input; andin response to detecting the first user input: selecting the contentobject, displaying an animation of the content object separating fromthe first electronic document, visually deemphasizing the firstelectronic document relative to the separated content object, andinitiating display of a plurality of editing icons proximate to theseparated content object.

In accordance with some embodiments, an electronic device includes adisplay, one or more processors, memory, and one or more programs; theone or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to beexecuted by the one or more processors and the one or more programsinclude instructions for performing the operations of any of the methodsdescribed above. In accordance with some embodiments, a graphical userinterface on an electronic device with a display, a memory, and one ormore processors to execute one or more programs stored in the memoryincludes one or more of the elements displayed in any of the methodsdescribed above, which are updated in response to inputs, as describedin any of the methods above. In accordance with some embodiments, acomputer readable storage medium has stored therein instructions whichwhen executed by an electronic device with a display, cause the deviceto perform the operations of any of the methods described above. Inaccordance with some embodiments, an electronic device includes: adisplay; and means for performing the operations of any of the methodsdescribed above. In accordance with some embodiments, an informationprocessing apparatus, for use in an electronic device with a display,includes means for performing the operations of any of the methodsdescribed above.

In accordance with some embodiments, an electronic device includes adisplay unit configured to concurrently display a first electronicdocument and a second electronic document on the display unit, the firstelectronic document including a displayed content object; and aprocessing unit coupled to the display unit. The processing unit isconfigured to: detect a first user input that starts on the contentobject; in response to a determination that the first user inputcorresponds to a first command, create and enable display of a copy ofthe content object in the second electronic document; and, in responseto a determination that the first user input corresponds to a secondcommand, distinct from the first command: select the content object,enable display of an animation of the content object separating from thefirst electronic document, and initiate display of a plurality of iconsproximate to the separated content object, the plurality of iconsincluding at least one icon to initiate display of a user interface forsending the content object to one or more other users.

In accordance with some embodiments, an electronic device includes adisplay unit configured to display a first electronic document on thedisplay unit, the first electronic document including a displayedcontent object; and a processing unit coupled to the display unit. Theprocessing unit is configured to: detect a first user input on thecontent object; and in response to detecting the first user input:select the content object, enable display of an animation of the contentobject separating from the first electronic document, visuallydeemphasize the first electronic document relative to the separatedcontent object, and initiate display of a plurality of icons proximateto the separated content object, the plurality of icons including atleast one icon to initiate display of a user interface for sending thecontent object to one or more other users.

In accordance with some embodiments, an electronic device includes adisplay unit configured to display a first electronic document on thedisplay unit, the first electronic document including a displayedcontent object; and a processing unit coupled to the display unit. Theprocessing unit is configured to: detect a first user input; and inresponse to detecting the first user input: select the content object,enable display of an animation of the content object separating from thefirst electronic document, visually deemphasize the first electronicdocument relative to the separated content object, and initiate displayof a plurality of editing icons proximate to the separated contentobject.

Thus, electronic devices with displays are provided with faster, moreefficient methods and interfaces for sharing content objects in adocument, thereby increasing the effectiveness, efficiency, and usersatisfaction with such devices. Such methods and interfaces maycomplement or replace conventional methods for sharing content objectsin a document.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the aforementioned embodiments of theinvention as well as additional embodiments thereof, reference should bemade to the Description of Embodiments below, in conjunction with thefollowing drawings in which like reference numerals refer tocorresponding parts throughout the figures.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating a portable multifunction devicewith a touch-sensitive display in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components for eventhandling in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a portable multifunction device having a touch screenin accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary multifunction device with adisplay and a touch-sensitive surface in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 4A illustrates an exemplary user interface for a menu ofapplications on a portable multifunction device in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 4B illustrates an exemplary user interface for a multifunctiondevice with a touch-sensitive surface that is separate from the displayin accordance with some embodiments.

FIGS. 5A-5S illustrate exemplary user interfaces for manipulatingcontent objects in a document in accordance with some embodiments.

FIGS. 6A-6D are flow diagrams illustrating a method of sharing a contentobject in a document in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of sharing a contentobject in a document in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of displaying an editinginterface for a content object in a document in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of an electronic device inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of an electronic device inaccordance with some embodiments.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Documents accessed by a user may include any number of content objects,such as images, embedded video, and text highlighted by the user. Theuser may wish to share just the content object, rather than the wholedocument, with others. Existing methods typically require the user toopen an interface for performing the sharing that take multiple steps,which may not be evident to a user. The embodiments below describe animproved method for sharing content objects in a document. For adocument with a content object, the user may perform a particular userinput on the content object (e.g., a press and hold input). In responseto the particular user input, the content object is visually separatedfrom the document (thus placing the focus on the content object) andicons for initiating user interfaces for sharing the content object aredisplayed. In some embodiments, if a user decides to move the contentobject to another electronic document, instead of sharing the contentobject with another user, the user interface seamlessly transitions fromthe interface for sharing the content object with other users to aninterface for moving the content object to another document. This methodsimplifies content object sharing from any document. A related methodmay also be used to present an editing interface for editing a contentobject in a document.

Below, FIGS. 1A-1B, 2, 3, 9-10 provide a description of exemplarydevices. FIGS. 4A-4B and 5A-5D illustrate exemplary user interfaces forsharing content objects in documents. FIGS. 6A-6D and 7 are flowdiagrams illustrating methods of sharing content objects in documents.FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of displaying an editinginterface for a content object in a document. The user interfaces inFIGS. 5A-5S are used to illustrate the processes in FIGS. 6A-6D, 7 and8.

EXEMPLARY DEVICES

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments, examples of whichare illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the following detaileddescription, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will beapparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present inventionmay be practiced without these specific details. In other instances,well-known methods, procedures, components, circuits, and networks havenot been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspectsof the embodiments.

It will also be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc.may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements shouldnot be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguishone element from another. For example, a first contact could be termed asecond contact, and, similarly, a second contact could be termed a firstcontact, without departing from the scope of the present invention. Thefirst contact and the second contact are both contacts, but they are notthe same contact.

The terminology used in the description of the invention herein is forthe purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is notintended to be limiting of the invention. As used in the description ofthe invention and the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an” and“the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless thecontext clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that theterm “and/or” as used herein refers to and encompasses any and allpossible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Itwill be further understood that the terms “includes,” “including,”“comprises,” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations,elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations,elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

As used herein, the term “if” may be construed to mean “when” or “upon”or “in response to determining” or “in response to detecting,” dependingon the context. Similarly, the phrase “if it is determined” or “if [astated condition or event] is detected” may be construed to mean “upondetermining” or “in response to determining” or “upon detecting [thestated condition or event]” or “in response to detecting [the statedcondition or event],” depending on the context.

Embodiments of electronic devices, user interfaces for such devices, andassociated processes for using such devices are described. In someembodiments, the device is a portable communications device, such as amobile telephone, that also contains other functions, such as PDA and/ormusic player functions. Exemplary embodiments of portable multifunctiondevices include, without limitation, the iPhone®, iPod Touch®, and iPad®devices from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Other portable electronicdevices, such as laptops or tablet computers with touch-sensitivesurfaces (e.g., touch screen displays and/or touch pads), may also beused. It should also be understood that, in some embodiments, the deviceis not a portable communications device, but is a desktop computer witha touch-sensitive surface (e.g., a touch screen display and/or a touchpad).

In the discussion that follows, an electronic device that includes adisplay and a touch-sensitive surface is described. It should beunderstood, however, that the electronic device may include one or moreother physical user-interface devices, such as a physical keyboard, amouse and/or a joystick.

The device typically supports a variety of applications, such as one ormore of the following: a drawing application, a presentationapplication, a word processing application, a website creationapplication, a disk authoring application, a spreadsheet application, agaming application, a telephone application, a video conferencingapplication, an e-mail application, an instant messaging application, aworkout support application, a photo management application, a digitalcamera application, a digital video camera application, a web browsingapplication, a digital music player application, and/or a digital videoplayer application.

The various applications that may be executed on the device may use atleast one common physical user-interface device, such as thetouch-sensitive surface. One or more functions of the touch-sensitivesurface as well as corresponding information displayed on the device maybe adjusted and/or varied from one application to the next and/or withina respective application. In this way, a common physical architecture(such as the touch-sensitive surface) of the device may support thevariety of applications with user interfaces that are intuitive andtransparent to the user.

Attention is now directed toward embodiments of portable devices withtouch-sensitive displays. FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustratingportable multifunction device 100 with touch-sensitive displays 112 inaccordance with some embodiments. Touch-sensitive display 112 issometimes called a “touch screen” for convenience, and may also be knownas or called a touch-sensitive display system. Device 100 may includememory 102 (which may include one or more computer readable storagemediums), memory controller 122, one or more processing units (CPU's)120, peripherals interface 118, RF circuitry 108, audio circuitry 110,speaker 111, microphone 113, input/output (I/O) subsystem 106, otherinput or control devices 116, and external port 124. Device 100 mayinclude one or more optical sensors 164. These components maycommunicate over one or more communication buses or signal lines 103.

It should be appreciated that device 100 is only one example of aportable multifunction device, and that device 100 may have more orfewer components than shown, may combine two or more components, or mayhave a different configuration or arrangement of the components. Thevarious components shown in FIG. 1A may be implemented in hardware,software, or a combination of both hardware and software, including oneor more signal processing and/or application specific integratedcircuits.

Memory 102 may include high-speed random access memory and may alsoinclude non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storagedevices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-state memorydevices. Access to memory 102 by other components of device 100, such asCPU 120 and the peripherals interface 118, may be controlled by memorycontroller 122.

Peripherals interface 118 can be used to couple input and outputperipherals of the device to CPU 120 and memory 102. The one or moreprocessors 120 run or execute various software programs and/or sets ofinstructions stored in memory 102 to perform various functions fordevice 100 and to process data.

In some embodiments, peripherals interface 118, CPU 120, and memorycontroller 122 may be implemented on a single chip, such as chip 104. Insome other embodiments, they may be implemented on separate chips.

RF (radio frequency) circuitry 108 receives and sends RF signals, alsocalled electromagnetic signals. RF circuitry 108 converts electricalsignals to/from electromagnetic signals and communicates withcommunications networks and other communications devices via theelectromagnetic signals. RF circuitry 108 may include well-knowncircuitry for performing these functions, including but not limited toan antenna system, an RF transceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner,one or more oscillators, a digital signal processor, a CODEC chipset, asubscriber identity module (SIM) card, memory, and so forth. RFcircuitry 108 may communicate with networks, such as the Internet, alsoreferred to as the World Wide Web (WWW), an intranet and/or a wirelessnetwork, such as a cellular telephone network, a wireless local areanetwork (LAN) and/or a metropolitan area network (MAN), and otherdevices by wireless communication. The wireless communication may useany of a plurality of communications standards, protocols andtechnologies, including but not limited to Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), high-speeddownlink packet access (HSDPA), high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA),wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA), code division multipleaccess (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Bluetooth, WirelessFidelity (Wi-Fi) (e.g., IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g and/orIEEE 802.11n), voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Wi-MAX, a protocolfor e-mail (e.g., Internet message access protocol (IMAP) and/or postoffice protocol (POP)), instant messaging (e.g., extensible messagingand presence protocol (XMPP), Session Initiation Protocol for InstantMessaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), Instant Messagingand Presence Service (IMPS)), and/or Short Message Service (SMS), or anyother suitable communication protocol, including communication protocolsnot yet developed as of the filing date of this document.

Audio circuitry 110, speaker 111, and microphone 113 provide an audiointerface between a user and device 100. Audio circuitry 110 receivesaudio data from peripherals interface 118, converts the audio data to anelectrical signal, and transmits the electrical signal to speaker 111.Speaker 111 converts the electrical signal to human-audible sound waves.Audio circuitry 110 also receives electrical signals converted bymicrophone 113 from sound waves. Audio circuitry 110 converts theelectrical signal to audio data and transmits the audio data toperipherals interface 118 for processing. Audio data may be retrievedfrom and/or transmitted to memory 102 and/or RF circuitry 108 byperipherals interface 118. In some embodiments, audio circuitry 110 alsoincludes a headset jack (e.g., 212, FIG. 2). The headset jack providesan interface between audio circuitry 110 and removable audioinput/output peripherals, such as output-only headphones or a headsetwith both output (e.g., a headphone for one or both ears) and input(e.g., a microphone).

I/O subsystem 106 couples input/output peripherals on device 100, suchas touch screen 112 and other input control devices 116, to peripheralsinterface 118. I/O subsystem 106 may include display controller 156 andone or more input controllers 160 for other input or control devices.The one or more input controllers 160 receive/send electrical signalsfrom/to other input or control devices 116. The other input controldevices 116 may include physical buttons (e.g., push buttons, rockerbuttons, etc.), dials, slider switches, joysticks, click wheels, and soforth. In some alternate embodiments, input controller(s) 160 may becoupled to any (or none) of the following: a keyboard, infrared port,USB port, and a pointer device such as a mouse. The one or more buttons(e.g., 208, FIG. 2) may include an up/down button for volume control ofspeaker 111 and/or microphone 113. The one or more buttons may include apush button (e.g., 206, FIG. 2).

Touch-sensitive display 112 provides an input interface and an outputinterface between the device and a user. Display controller 156 receivesand/or sends electrical signals from/to touch screen 112. Touch screen112 displays visual output to the user. The visual output may includegraphics, text, icons, video, and any combination thereof (collectivelytermed “graphics”). In some embodiments, some or all of the visualoutput may correspond to user-interface objects.

Touch screen 112 has a touch-sensitive surface, sensor or set of sensorsthat accepts input from the user based on haptic and/or tactile contact.Touch screen 112 and display controller 156 (along with any associatedmodules and/or sets of instructions in memory 102) detect contact (andany movement or breaking of the contact) on touch screen 112 andconverts the detected contact into interaction with user-interfaceobjects (e.g., one or more soft keys, icons, web pages or images) thatare displayed on touch screen 112. In an exemplary embodiment, a pointof contact between touch screen 112 and the user corresponds to a fingerof the user.

Touch screen 112 may use LCD (liquid crystal display) technology, LPD(light emitting polymer display) technology, or LED (light emittingdiode) technology, although other display technologies may be used inother embodiments. Touch screen 112 and display controller 156 maydetect contact and any movement or breaking thereof using any of aplurality of touch sensing technologies now known or later developed,including but not limited to capacitive, resistive, infrared, andsurface acoustic wave technologies, as well as other proximity sensorarrays or other elements for determining one or more points of contactwith touch screen 112. In an exemplary embodiment, projected mutualcapacitance sensing technology is used, such as that found in theiPhone®, iPod Touch®, and iPad® from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.

Touch screen 112 may have a video resolution in excess of 100 dpi. Insome embodiments, the touch screen has a video resolution ofapproximately 160 dpi. The user may make contact with touch screen 112using any suitable object or appendage, such as a stylus, a finger, andso forth. In some embodiments, the user interface is designed to workprimarily with finger-based contacts and gestures, which can be lessprecise than stylus-based input due to the larger area of contact of afinger on the touch screen. In some embodiments, the device translatesthe rough finger-based input into a precise pointer/cursor position orcommand for performing the actions desired by the user.

In some embodiments, in addition to the touch screen, device 100 mayinclude a touchpad (not shown) for activating or deactivating particularfunctions. In some embodiments, the touchpad is a touch-sensitive areaof the device that, unlike the touch screen, does not display visualoutput. The touchpad may be a touch-sensitive surface that is separatefrom touch screen 112 or an extension of the touch-sensitive surfaceformed by the touch screen.

Device 100 also includes power system 162 for powering the variouscomponents. Power system 162 may include a power management system, oneor more power sources (e.g., battery, alternating current (AC)), arecharging system, a power failure detection circuit, a power converteror inverter, a power status indicator (e.g., a light-emitting diode(LED)) and any other components associated with the generation,management and distribution of power in portable devices.

Device 100 may also include one or more optical sensors 164. FIG. 1Ashows an optical sensor coupled to optical sensor controller 158 in I/Osubsystem 106. Optical sensor 164 may include charge-coupled device(CCD) or complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)phototransistors. Optical sensor 164 receives light from theenvironment, projected through one or more lens, and converts the lightto data representing an image. In conjunction with imaging module 143(also called a camera module), optical sensor 164 may capture stillimages or video. In some embodiments, an optical sensor is located onthe back of device 100, opposite touch screen display 112 on the frontof the device, so that the touch screen display may be used as aviewfinder for still and/or video image acquisition. In someembodiments, another optical sensor is located on the front of thedevice so that the user's image may be obtained for videoconferencingwhile the user views the other video conference participants on thetouch screen display.

Device 100 may also include one or more proximity sensors 166. FIG. 1Ashows proximity sensor 166 coupled to peripherals interface 118.Alternately, proximity sensor 166 may be coupled to input controller 160in I/O subsystem 106. In some embodiments, the proximity sensor turnsoff and disables touch screen 112 when the multifunction device isplaced near the user's ear (e.g., when the user is making a phone call).

Device 100 may also include one or more accelerometers 168. FIG. 1Ashows accelerometer 168 coupled to peripherals interface 118.Alternately, accelerometer 168 may be coupled to an input controller 160in I/O subsystem 106. In some embodiments, information is displayed onthe touch screen display in a portrait view or a landscape view based onan analysis of data received from the one or more accelerometers. Device100 optionally includes, in addition to accelerometer(s) 168, amagnetometer (not shown) and a GPS (or GLONASS or other globalnavigation system) receiver (not shown) for obtaining informationconcerning the location and orientation (e.g., portrait or landscape) ofdevice 100.

In some embodiments, the software components stored in memory 102include operating system 126, communication module (or set ofinstructions) 128, contact/motion module (or set of instructions) 130,graphics module (or set of instructions) 132, text input module (or setof instructions) 134, Global Positioning System (GPS) module (or set ofinstructions) 135, and applications (or sets of instructions) 136.Furthermore, in some embodiments memory 102 stores device/globalinternal state 157, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 3. Device/global internalstate 157 includes one or more of: active application state, indicatingwhich applications, if any, are currently active; display state,indicating what applications, views or other information occupy variousregions of touch screen display 112; sensor state, including informationobtained from the device's various sensors and input control devices116; and location information concerning the device's location and/orattitude.

Operating system 126 (e.g., Darwin, RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, OS X, WINDOWS, oran embedded operating system such as VxWorks) includes various softwarecomponents and/or drivers for controlling and managing general systemtasks (e.g., memory management, storage device control, powermanagement, etc.) and facilitates communication between various hardwareand software components.

Communication module 128 facilitates communication with other devicesover one or more external ports 124 and also includes various softwarecomponents for handling data received by RF circuitry 108 and/orexternal port 124. External port 124 (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB),FIREWIRE, etc.) is adapted for coupling directly to other devices orindirectly over a network (e.g., the Internet, wireless LAN, etc.). Insome embodiments, the external port is a multi-pin (e.g., 30-pin)connector that is the same as, or similar to and/or compatible with the30-pin connector used on iPod (trademark of Apple Inc.) devices.

Contact/motion module 130 may detect contact with touch screen 112 (inconjunction with display controller 156) and other touch sensitivedevices (e.g., a touchpad or physical click wheel). Contact/motionmodule 130 includes various software components for performing variousoperations related to detection of contact, such as determining ifcontact has occurred (e.g., detecting a finger-down event), determiningif there is movement of the contact and tracking the movement across thetouch-sensitive surface (e.g., detecting one or more finger-draggingevents), and determining if the contact has ceased (e.g., detecting afinger-up event or a break in contact). Contact/motion module 130receives contact data from the touch-sensitive surface. Determiningmovement of the point of contact, which is represented by a series ofcontact data, may include determining speed (magnitude), velocity(magnitude and direction), and/or an acceleration (a change in magnitudeand/or direction) of the point of contact. These operations may beapplied to single contacts (e.g., one finger contacts) or to multiplesimultaneous contacts (e.g., “multitouch”/multiple finger contacts). Insome embodiments, contact/motion module 130 and display controller 156detect contact on a touchpad.

Contact/motion module 130 may detect a gesture input by a user.Different gestures on the touch-sensitive surface have different contactpatterns. Thus, a gesture may be detected by detecting a particularcontact pattern. For example, detecting a finger tap gesture includesdetecting a finger-down event followed by detecting a finger-up (liftoff) event at the same position (or substantially the same position) asthe finger-down event (e.g., at the position of an icon). As anotherexample, detecting a finger swipe gesture on the touch-sensitive surfaceincludes detecting a finger-down event followed by detecting one or morefinger-dragging events, and subsequently followed by detecting afinger-up (lift off) event.

Graphics module 132 includes various known software components forrendering and displaying graphics on touch screen 112 or other display,including components for changing the intensity of graphics that aredisplayed. As used herein, the term “graphics” includes any object thatcan be displayed to a user, including without limitation text, webpages, icons (such as user-interface objects including soft keys),digital images, videos, animations and the like.

In some embodiments, graphics module 132 stores data representinggraphics to be used. Each graphic may be assigned a corresponding code.Graphics module 132 receives, from applications etc., one or more codesspecifying graphics to be displayed along with, if necessary, coordinatedata and other graphic property data, and then generates screen imagedata to output to display controller 156.

Text input module 134, which may be a component of graphics module 132,provides soft keyboards for entering text in various applications (e.g.,contacts 137, e-mail 140, IM 141, browser 147, and any other applicationthat needs text input).

GPS module 135 determines the location of the device and provides thisinformation for use in various applications (e.g., to telephone 138 foruse in location-based dialing, to camera 143 as picture/video metadata,and to applications that provide location-based services such as weatherwidgets, local yellow page widgets, and map/navigation widgets).

Applications 136 may include the following modules (or sets ofinstructions), or a subset or superset thereof:

-   -   contacts module 137 (sometimes called an address book or contact        list);    -   telephone module 138;    -   video conferencing module 139;    -   e-mail client module 140;    -   instant messaging (IM) module 141;    -   workout support module 142;    -   camera module 143 for still and/or video images;    -   image management module 144;    -   browser module 147;    -   calendar module 148;    -   widget modules 149, which may include one or more of: weather        widget 149-1, stocks widget 149-2, calculator widget 149-3,        alarm clock widget 149-4, dictionary widget 149-5, and other        widgets obtained by the user, as well as user-created widgets        149-6;    -   widget creator module 150 for making user-created widgets 149-6;    -   search module 151;    -   video and music player module 152, which may be made up of a        video player module and a music player module;    -   notes module 153;    -   map module 154; and/or    -   online video module 155.

Examples of other applications 136 that may be stored in memory 102include other word processing applications, other image editingapplications, drawing applications, presentation applications,JAVA-enabled applications, encryption, digital rights management, voicerecognition, and voice replication.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contactmodule 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, contactsmodule 137 may be used to manage an address book or contact list (e.g.,stored in application internal state 192 of contacts module 137 inmemory 102 or memory 370), including: adding name(s) to the addressbook; deleting name(s) from the address book; associating telephonenumber(s), e-mail address(es), physical address(es) or other informationwith a name; associating an image with a name; categorizing and sortingnames; providing telephone numbers or e-mail addresses to initiateand/or facilitate communications by telephone 138, video conference 139,e-mail 140, or IM 141; and so forth.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, audio circuitry 110, speaker 111,microphone 113, touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact module130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, telephone module138 may be used to enter a sequence of characters corresponding to atelephone number, access one or more telephone numbers in address book137, modify a telephone number that has been entered, dial a respectivetelephone number, conduct a conversation and disconnect or hang up whenthe conversation is completed. As noted above, the wirelesscommunication may use any of a plurality of communications standards,protocols and technologies.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, audio circuitry 110, speaker 111,microphone 113, touch screen 112, display controller 156, optical sensor164, optical sensor controller 158, contact module 130, graphics module132, text input module 134, contact list 137, and telephone module 138,videoconferencing module 139 includes executable instructions toinitiate, conduct, and terminate a video conference between a user andone or more other participants in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, displaycontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, and text inputmodule 134, e-mail client module 140 includes executable instructions tocreate, send, receive, and manage e-mail in response to userinstructions. In conjunction with image management module 144, e-mailclient module 140 makes it very easy to create and send e-mails withstill or video images taken with camera module 143.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, displaycontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, and text inputmodule 134, the instant messaging module 141 includes executableinstructions to enter a sequence of characters corresponding to aninstant message, to modify previously entered characters, to transmit arespective instant message (for example, using a Short Message Service(SMS) or Multimedia Message Service (MMS) protocol for telephony-basedinstant messages or using XMPP, SIMPLE, or IMPS for Internet-basedinstant messages), to receive instant messages and to view receivedinstant messages. In some embodiments, transmitted and/or receivedinstant messages may include graphics, photos, audio files, video filesand/or other attachments as are supported in a MMS and/or an EnhancedMessaging Service (EMS). As used herein, “instant messaging” refers toboth telephony-based messages (e.g., messages sent using SMS or MMS) andInternet-based messages (e.g., messages sent using XMPP, SIMPLE, orIMPS).

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, displaycontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text inputmodule 134, GPS module 135, map module 154, and music player module 146,workout support module 142 includes executable instructions to createworkouts (e.g., with time, distance, and/or calorie burning goals);communicate with workout sensors (sports devices); receive workoutsensor data; calibrate sensors used to monitor a workout; select andplay music for a workout; and display, store and transmit workout data.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, opticalsensor(s) 164, optical sensor controller 158, contact module 130,graphics module 132, and image management module 144, camera module 143includes executable instructions to capture still images or video(including a video stream) and store them into memory 102, modifycharacteristics of a still image or video, or delete a still image orvideo from memory 102.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contactmodule 130, graphics module 132, text input module 134, and cameramodule 143, image management module 144 includes executable instructionsto arrange, modify (e.g., edit), or otherwise manipulate, label, delete,present (e.g., in a digital slide show or album), and store still and/orvideo images.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display systemcontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, and text inputmodule 134, browser module 147 includes executable instructions tobrowse the Internet in accordance with user instructions, includingsearching, linking to, receiving, and displaying web pages or portionsthereof, as well as attachments and other files linked to web pages.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display systemcontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text inputmodule 134, e-mail client module 140, and browser module 147, calendarmodule 148 includes executable instructions to create, display, modify,and store calendars and data associated with calendars (e.g., calendarentries, to do lists, etc.) in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display systemcontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text inputmodule 134, and browser module 147, widget modules 149 aremini-applications that may be downloaded and used by a user (e.g.,weather widget 149-1, stocks widget 149-2, calculator widget 149-3,alarm clock widget 149-4, and dictionary widget 149-5) or created by theuser (e.g., user-created widget 149-6). In some embodiments, a widgetincludes an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) file, a CSS (CascadingStyle Sheets) file, and a JavaScript file. In some embodiments, a widgetincludes an XML (Extensible Markup Language) file and a JavaScript file(e.g., Yahoo! Widgets).

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display systemcontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text inputmodule 134, and browser module 147, the widget creator module 150 may beused by a user to create widgets (e.g., turning a user-specified portionof a web page into a widget).

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display system controller 156,contact module 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134,search module 151 includes executable instructions to search for text,music, sound, image, video, and/or other files in memory 102 that matchone or more search criteria (e.g., one or more user-specified searchterms) in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display system controller 156,contact module 130, graphics module 132, audio circuitry 110, speaker111, RF circuitry 108, and browser module 147, video and music playermodule 152 includes executable instructions that allow the user todownload and play back recorded music and other sound files stored inone or more file formats, such as MP3 or AAC files, and executableinstructions to display, present or otherwise play back videos (e.g., ontouch screen 112 or on an external, connected display via external port124). In some embodiments, device 100 may include the functionality ofan MP3 player, such as an iPod (trademark of Apple Inc.).

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contactmodule 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, notes module153 includes executable instructions to create and manage notes, to dolists, and the like in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display systemcontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text inputmodule 134, GPS module 135, and browser module 147, map module 154 maybe used to receive, display, modify, and store maps and data associatedwith maps (e.g., driving directions; data on stores and other points ofinterest at or near a particular location; and other location-baseddata) in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display system controller 156,contact module 130, graphics module 132, audio circuitry 110, speaker111, RF circuitry 108, text input module 134, e-mail client module 140,and browser module 147, online video module 155 includes instructionsthat allow the user to access, browse, receive (e.g., by streamingand/or download), play back (e.g., on the touch screen or on anexternal, connected display via external port 124), send an e-mail witha link to a particular online video, and otherwise manage online videosin one or more file formats, such as H.264. In some embodiments, instantmessaging module 141, rather than e-mail client module 140, is used tosend a link to a particular online video.

Each of the above identified modules and applications correspond to aset of executable instructions for performing one or more functionsdescribed above and the methods described in this application (e.g., thecomputer-implemented methods and other information processing methodsdescribed herein). These modules (i.e., sets of instructions) need notbe implemented as separate software programs, procedures or modules, andthus various subsets of these modules may be combined or otherwisere-arranged in various embodiments. In some embodiments, memory 102 maystore a subset of the modules and data structures identified above.Furthermore, memory 102 may store additional modules and data structuresnot described above.

In some embodiments, device 100 is a device where operation of apredefined set of functions on the device is performed exclusivelythrough a touch screen and/or a touchpad. By using a touch screen and/ora touchpad as the primary input control device for operation of device100, the number of physical input control devices (such as push buttons,dials, and the like) on device 100 may be reduced.

The predefined set of functions that may be performed exclusivelythrough a touch screen and/or a touchpad include navigation between userinterfaces. In some embodiments, the touchpad, when touched by the user,navigates device 100 to a main, home, or root menu from any userinterface that may be displayed on device 100. In such embodiments, thetouchpad may be referred to as a “menu button.” In some otherembodiments, the menu button may be a physical push button or otherphysical input control device instead of a touchpad.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components for eventhandling in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments,memory 102 (in FIG. 1A) or 370 (FIG. 3) includes event sorter 170 (e.g.,in operating system 126) and a respective application 136-1 (e.g., anyof the aforementioned applications 137-151, 155, 380-390).

Event sorter 170 receives event information and determines theapplication 136-1 and application view 191 of application 136-1 to whichto deliver the event information. Event sorter 170 includes eventmonitor 171 and event dispatcher module 174. In some embodiments,application 136-1 includes application internal state 192, whichindicates the current application view(s) displayed on touch sensitivedisplay 112 when the application is active or executing. In someembodiments, device/global internal state 157 is used by event sorter170 to determine which application(s) is (are) currently active, andapplication internal state 192 is used by event sorter 170 to determineapplication views 191 to which to deliver event information.

In some embodiments, application internal state 192 includes additionalinformation, such as one or more of: resume information to be used whenapplication 136-1 resumes execution, user interface state informationthat indicates information being displayed or that is ready for displayby application 136-1, a state queue for enabling the user to go back toa prior state or view of application 136-1, and a redo/undo queue ofprevious actions taken by the user.

Event monitor 171 receives event information from peripherals interface118. Event information includes information about a sub-event (e.g., auser touch on touch-sensitive display 112, as part of a multi-touchgesture). Peripherals interface 118 transmits information it receivesfrom I/O subsystem 106 or a sensor, such as proximity sensor 166,accelerometer(s) 168, and/or microphone 113 (through audio circuitry110). Information that peripherals interface 118 receives from I/Osubsystem 106 includes information from touch-sensitive display 112 or atouch-sensitive surface.

In some embodiments, event monitor 171 sends requests to the peripheralsinterface 118 at predetermined intervals. In response, peripheralsinterface 118 transmits event information. In other embodiments,peripheral interface 118 transmits event information only when there isa significant event (e.g., receiving an input above a predeterminednoise threshold and/or for more than a predetermined duration).

In some embodiments, event sorter 170 also includes a hit viewdetermination module 172 and/or an active event recognizer determinationmodule 173.

Hit view determination module 172 provides software procedures fordetermining where a sub-event has taken place within one or more views,when touch sensitive display 112 displays more than one view. Views aremade up of controls and other elements that a user can see on thedisplay.

Another aspect of the user interface associated with an application is aset of views, sometimes herein called application views or userinterface windows, in which information is displayed and touch-basedgestures occur. The application views (of a respective application) inwhich a touch is detected may correspond to programmatic levels within aprogrammatic or view hierarchy of the application. For example, thelowest level view in which a touch is detected may be called the hitview, and the set of events that are recognized as proper inputs may bedetermined based, at least in part, on the hit view of the initial touchthat begins a touch-based gesture.

Hit view determination module 172 receives information related tosub-events of a touch-based gesture. When an application has multipleviews organized in a hierarchy, hit view determination module 172identifies a hit view as the lowest view in the hierarchy which shouldhandle the sub-event. In most circumstances, the hit view is the lowestlevel view in which an initiating sub-event occurs (i.e., the firstsub-event in the sequence of sub-events that form an event or potentialevent). Once the hit view is identified by the hit view determinationmodule, the hit view typically receives all sub-events related to thesame touch or input source for which it was identified as the hit view.

Active event recognizer determination module 173 determines which viewor views within a view hierarchy should receive a particular sequence ofsub-events. In some embodiments, active event recognizer determinationmodule 173 determines that only the hit view should receive a particularsequence of sub-events. In other embodiments, active event recognizerdetermination module 173 determines that all views that include thephysical location of a sub-event are actively involved views, andtherefore determines that all actively involved views should receive aparticular sequence of sub-events. In other embodiments, even if touchsub-events were entirely confined to the area associated with oneparticular view, views higher in the hierarchy would still remain asactively involved views.

Event dispatcher module 174 dispatches the event information to an eventrecognizer (e.g., event recognizer 180). In embodiments including activeevent recognizer determination module 173, event dispatcher module 174delivers the event information to an event recognizer determined byactive event recognizer determination module 173. In some embodiments,event dispatcher module 174 stores in an event queue the eventinformation, which is retrieved by a respective event receiver module182.

In some embodiments, operating system 126 includes event sorter 170.Alternatively, application 136-1 includes event sorter 170. In yet otherembodiments, event sorter 170 is a stand-alone module, or a part ofanother module stored in memory 102, such as contact/motion module 130.

In some embodiments, application 136-1 includes a plurality of eventhandlers 190 and one or more application views 191, each of whichincludes instructions for handling touch events that occur within arespective view of the application's user interface. Each applicationview 191 of the application 136-1 includes one or more event recognizers180. Typically, a respective application view 191 includes a pluralityof event recognizers 180. In other embodiments, one or more of eventrecognizers 180 are part of a separate module, such as a user interfacekit (not shown) or a higher level object from which application 136-1inherits methods and other properties. In some embodiments, a respectiveevent handler 190 includes one or more of: data updater 176, objectupdater 177, GUI updater 178, and/or event data 179 received from eventsorter 170. Event handler 190 may utilize or call data updater 176,object updater 177 or GUI updater 178 to update the application internalstate 192. Alternatively, one or more of the application views 191includes one or more respective event handlers 190. Also, in someembodiments, one or more of data updater 176, object updater 177, andGUI updater 178 are included in a respective application view 191.

A respective event recognizer 180 receives event information (e.g.,event data 179) from event sorter 170, and identifies an event from theevent information. Event recognizer 180 includes event receiver 182 andevent comparator 184. In some embodiments, event recognizer 180 alsoincludes at least a subset of: metadata 183, and event deliveryinstructions 188 (which may include sub-event delivery instructions).

Event receiver 182 receives event information from event sorter 170. Theevent information includes information about a sub-event, for example, atouch or a touch movement. Depending on the sub-event, the eventinformation also includes additional information, such as location ofthe sub-event. When the sub-event concerns motion of a touch the eventinformation may also include speed and direction of the sub-event. Insome embodiments, events include rotation of the device from oneorientation to another (e.g., from a portrait orientation to a landscapeorientation, or vice versa), and the event information includescorresponding information about the current orientation (also calleddevice attitude) of the device.

Event comparator 184 compares the event information to predefined eventor sub-event definitions and, based on the comparison, determines anevent or sub-event, or determines or updates the state of an event orsub-event. In some embodiments, event comparator 184 includes eventdefinitions 186. Event definitions 186 contain definitions of events(e.g., predefined sequences of sub-events), for example, event 1(187-1), event 2 (187-2), and others. In some embodiments, sub-events inan event 187 include, for example, touch begin, touch end, touchmovement, touch cancellation, and multiple touching. In one example, thedefinition for event 1 (187-1) is a double tap on a displayed object.The double tap, for example, comprises a first touch (touch begin) onthe displayed object for a predetermined phase, a first lift-off (touchend) for a predetermined phase, a second touch (touch begin) on thedisplayed object for a predetermined phase, and a second lift-off (touchend) for a predetermined phase. In another example, the definition forevent 2 (187-2) is a dragging on a displayed object. The dragging, forexample, comprises a touch (or contact) on the displayed object for apredetermined phase, a movement of the touch across touch-sensitivedisplay 112, and lift-off of the touch (touch end). In some embodiments,the event also includes information for one or more associated eventhandlers 190.

In some embodiments, event definition 187 includes a definition of anevent for a respective user-interface object. In some embodiments, eventcomparator 184 performs a hit test to determine which user-interfaceobject is associated with a sub-event. For example, in an applicationview in which three user-interface objects are displayed ontouch-sensitive display 112, when a touch is detected on touch-sensitivedisplay 112, event comparator 184 performs a hit test to determine whichof the three user-interface objects is associated with the touch(sub-event). If each displayed object is associated with a respectiveevent handler 190, the event comparator uses the result of the hit testto determine which event handler 190 should be activated. For example,event comparator 184 selects an event handler associated with thesub-event and the object triggering the hit test.

In some embodiments, the definition for a respective event 187 alsoincludes delayed actions that delay delivery of the event informationuntil after it has been determined whether the sequence of sub-eventsdoes or does not correspond to the event recognizer's event type.

When a respective event recognizer 180 determines that the series ofsub-events do not match any of the events in event definitions 186, therespective event recognizer 180 enters an event impossible, eventfailed, or event ended state, after which it disregards subsequentsub-events of the touch-based gesture. In this situation, other eventrecognizers, if any, that remain active for the hit view continue totrack and process sub-events of an ongoing touch-based gesture.

In some embodiments, a respective event recognizer 180 includes metadata183 with configurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicate howthe event delivery system should perform sub-event delivery to activelyinvolved event recognizers. In some embodiments, metadata 183 includesconfigurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicate how eventrecognizers may interact with one another. In some embodiments, metadata183 includes configurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicatewhether sub-events are delivered to varying levels in the view orprogrammatic hierarchy.

In some embodiments, a respective event recognizer 180 activates eventhandler 190 associated with an event when one or more particularsub-events of an event are recognized. In some embodiments, a respectiveevent recognizer 180 delivers event information associated with theevent to event handler 190. Activating an event handler 190 is distinctfrom sending (and deferred sending) sub-events to a respective hit view.In some embodiments, event recognizer 180 throws a flag associated withthe recognized event, and event handler 190 associated with the flagcatches the flag and performs a predefined process.

In some embodiments, event delivery instructions 188 include sub-eventdelivery instructions that deliver event information about a sub-eventwithout activating an event handler. Instead, the sub-event deliveryinstructions deliver event information to event handlers associated withthe series of sub-events or to actively involved views. Event handlersassociated with the series of sub-events or with actively involved viewsreceive the event information and perform a predetermined process.

In some embodiments, data updater 176 creates and updates data used inapplication 136-1. For example, data updater 176 updates the telephonenumber used in contacts module 137, or stores a video file used in videoplayer module 145. In some embodiments, object updater 177 creates andupdates objects used in application 136-1. For example, object updater176 creates a new user-interface object or updates the position of auser-interface object. GUI updater 178 updates the GUI. For example, GUIupdater 178 prepares display information and sends it to graphics module132 for display on a touch-sensitive display.

In some embodiments, event handler(s) 190 includes or has access to dataupdater 176, object updater 177, and GUI updater 178. In someembodiments, data updater 176, object updater 177, and GUI updater 178are included in a single module of a respective application 136-1 orapplication view 191. In other embodiments, they are included in two ormore software modules.

It shall be understood that the foregoing discussion regarding eventhandling of user touches on touch-sensitive displays also applies toother forms of user inputs to operate multifunction devices 100 withinput-devices, not all of which are initiated on touch screens, e.g.,coordinating mouse movement and mouse button presses with or withoutsingle or multiple keyboard presses or holds, user movements taps,drags, scrolls, etc., on touch-pads, pen stylus inputs, movement of thedevice, oral instructions, detected eye movements, biometric inputs,and/or any combination thereof, which may be utilized as inputscorresponding to sub-events which define an event to be recognized.

FIG. 2 illustrates a portable multifunction device 100 having a touchscreen 112 in accordance with some embodiments. The touch screen maydisplay one or more graphics within user interface (UI) 200. In thisembodiment, as well as others described below, a user may select one ormore of the graphics by making a gesture on the graphics, for example,with one or more fingers 202 (not drawn to scale in the figure) or oneor more styluses 203 (not drawn to scale in the figure). In someembodiments, selection of one or more graphics occurs when the userbreaks contact with the one or more graphics. In some embodiments, thegesture may include one or more taps, one or more swipes (from left toright, right to left, upward and/or downward) and/or a rolling of afinger (from right to left, left to right, upward and/or downward) thathas made contact with device 100. In some embodiments, inadvertentcontact with a graphic may not select the graphic. For example, a swipegesture that sweeps over an application icon may not select thecorresponding application when the gesture corresponding to selection isa tap.

Device 100 may also include one or more physical buttons, such as “home”or menu button 204. As described previously, menu button 204 may be usedto navigate to any application 136 in a set of applications that may beexecuted on device 100. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the menubutton is implemented as a soft key in a GUI displayed on touch screen112.

In one embodiment, device 100 includes touch screen 112, menu button204, push button 206 for powering the device on/off and locking thedevice, volume adjustment button(s) 208, Subscriber Identity Module(SIM) card slot 210, head set jack 212, and docking/charging externalport 124. Push button 206 may be used to turn the power on/off on thedevice by depressing the button and holding the button in the depressedstate for a predefined time interval; to lock the device by depressingthe button and releasing the button before the predefined time intervalhas elapsed; and/or to unlock the device or initiate an unlock process.In an alternative embodiment, device 100 also may accept verbal inputfor activation or deactivation of some functions through microphone 113.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary multifunction device with adisplay and a touch-sensitive surface in accordance with someembodiments. Device 300 need not be portable. In some embodiments,device 300 is a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer,a multimedia player device, a navigation device, an educational device(such as a child's learning toy), a gaming system, or a control device(e.g., a home or industrial controller). Device 300 typically includesone or more processing units (CPU's) 310, one or more network or othercommunications interfaces 360, memory 370, and one or more communicationbuses 320 for interconnecting these components. Communication buses 320may include circuitry (sometimes called a chipset) that interconnectsand controls communications between system components. Device 300includes input/output (I/O) interface 330 comprising display 340, whichis typically a touch screen display. I/O interface 330 also may includea keyboard and/or mouse (or other pointing device) 350 and touchpad 355.Memory 370 includes high-speed random access memory, such as DRAM, SRAM,DDR RAM or other random access solid state memory devices; and mayinclude non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storagedevices, optical disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or othernon-volatile solid state storage devices. Memory 370 may optionallyinclude one or more storage devices remotely located from CPU(s) 310. Insome embodiments, memory 370 stores programs, modules, and datastructures analogous to the programs, modules, and data structuresstored in memory 102 of portable multifunction device 100 (FIG. 1), or asubset thereof. Furthermore, memory 370 may store additional programs,modules, and data structures not present in memory 102 of portablemultifunction device 100. For example, memory 370 of device 300 maystore drawing module 380, presentation module 382, word processingmodule 384, website creation module 386, disk authoring module 388,and/or spreadsheet module 390, while memory 102 of portablemultifunction device 100 (FIG. 1) may not store these modules.

Each of the above identified elements in FIG. 3 may be stored in one ormore of the previously mentioned memory devices. Each of the aboveidentified modules corresponds to a set of instructions for performing afunction described above. The above identified modules or programs(i.e., sets of instructions) need not be implemented as separatesoftware programs, procedures or modules, and thus various subsets ofthese modules may be combined or otherwise re-arranged in variousembodiments. In some embodiments, memory 370 may store a subset of themodules and data structures identified above. Furthermore, memory 370may store additional modules and data structures not described above.

Attention is now directed towards embodiments of user interfaces (“UI”)that may be implemented on portable multifunction device 100.

FIG. 4A illustrates an exemplary user interface for a menu ofapplications on portable multifunction device 100 in accordance withsome embodiments. Similar user interfaces may be implemented on device300. In some embodiments, user interface 400 includes the followingelements, or a subset or superset thereof:

-   -   Signal strength indicator(s) 402 for wireless communication(s),        such as cellular and Wi-Fi signals;    -   Time 404;    -   Bluetooth indicator 405;    -   Battery status indicator 406;    -   Tray 408 with icons for frequently used applications, such as:        -   Phone 138, which may include an indicator 414 of the number            of missed calls or voicemail messages;        -   E-mail client 140, which may include an indicator 410 of the            number of unread e-mails;        -   Browser 147; and        -   Video and music player 152, also referred to as iPod            (trademark of Apple Inc.) module 152; and    -   Icons for other applications, such as:        -   IM 141;        -   Image management 144;        -   Camera 143;        -   Weather 149-1;        -   Stocks 149-2;        -   Workout support 142;        -   Calendar 148;        -   Alarm clock 149-4;        -   Map 154;        -   Notes 153;        -   Settings 412, which provides access to settings for device            100 and its various applications 136; and        -   Online video module 155, also referred to as YouTube            (trademark of Google Inc.) module 155.

FIG. 4B illustrates an exemplary user interface on a device (e.g.,device 300, FIG. 3) with a touch-sensitive surface 451 (e.g., a tabletor touchpad 355, FIG. 3) that is separate from the display 450 (e.g.,touch screen display 112). Although many of the examples which followwill be given with reference to inputs on touch screen display 112(where the touch sensitive surface and the display are combined), insome embodiments, the device detects inputs on a touch-sensitive surfacethat is separate from the display, as shown in FIG. 4B. In someembodiments the touch sensitive surface (e.g., 451 in FIG. 4B) has aprimary axis (e.g., 452 in FIG. 4B) that corresponds to a primary axis(e.g., 453 in FIG. 4B) on the display (e.g., 450). In accordance withthese embodiments, the device detects contacts (e.g., 460 and 462 inFIG. 4B) with the touch-sensitive surface 451 at locations thatcorrespond to respective locations on the display (e.g., in FIG. 4B, 460corresponds to 468 and 462 corresponds to 470). In this way, user inputs(e.g., contacts 460 and 462, and movements thereof) detected by thedevice on the touch-sensitive surface (e.g., 451 in FIG. 4B) are used bythe device to manipulate the user interface on the display (e.g., 450 inFIG. 4B) of the multifunction device when the touch-sensitive surface isseparate from the display. It should be understood that similar methodsmay be used for other user interfaces described herein.

It should be understood that, in some embodiments, one or more of thefinger inputs are replaced with input from another input device (e.g., amouse based input or stylus input), or vice versa. For example, a swipegesture may be replaced with a mouse click (e.g., instead of a contact)followed by movement of the cursor along the path of the swipe (e.g.,instead of movement of the contact). As another example, a tap gesturemay be replaced with a mouse click while the cursor is located over thelocation of the tap gesture (e.g., instead of detection of the contactfollowed by ceasing to detect the contact).

User Interfaces and Associated Processes

Attention is now directed towards embodiments of user interfaces (“UI”)and associated processes that may be implemented on an electronic devicewith a display and a touch-sensitive surface, such as device 300 orportable multifunction device 100.

FIGS. 5A-5S illustrate exemplary user interfaces for manipulatingcontent objects in documents in accordance with some embodiments. Theuser interfaces in these figures are used to illustrate the processesdescribed below, including the processes in FIGS. 6A-6D, 7-8.

FIG. 5A illustrates documents 502 and 506 concurrently displayed on adisplay (e.g., display 340 of device 300 or touch screen 112 of device100). Documents 502 and 506 may respectively be a word processingdocument, a web page, a spreadsheet, a presentation document, anelectronic book, an email message, a text message, an instant message,or a text document, for example.

Document 502 includes content object 504 that is displayed, on display340, in document 502. Exemplary content objects 504 include, withoutlimitation, a digital image, an inline video, inline audio, texthighlighted by a user, a graphic, or a file attachment.

Cursor 508 is also displayed on display 340, at a location over contentobject 504. In some embodiments, cursor 508 is a mouse cursor orpointer. Cursor 508 may be moved on display 340 in response to thedetection of a cursor movement input (e.g., a mouse input, or a gestureon a touch-sensitive surface).

While cursor 508 is positioned at a location over content object 504,device 300 may detect a user input corresponding to a command. In FIG.5A, while cursor 508 is positioned over content object 504, device 300detects a user input that includes a click and drag input (not shown)made with mouse 350, which corresponds to a drag and drop command. Ifdisplay 340 is touch-sensitive, the user input may include a tap anddrag input on the touch-sensitive display instead of a click and draginput using mouse 350. In response to the detection of the click anddrag input, cursor 508 moves in, for example, direction 510, and contentobject 504 or a representation of content object 504 is dragged indirection 510 (in this case, to a position in document 506). Thedragging of content object 504 may be animated. FIG. 5B illustrates aninstant in an animation showing representation 511 of content object 504being dragged in direction 510 toward document 506.

FIG. 5C shows a result of the response to the detection of the userinput. When representation 511 is dragged to a position over document506 and then the mouse click is released, copy 512 of content object 504is created and displayed in document 506. In some embodiments, contentobject 504 may be removed from document 502 as well.

FIG. 5D illustrates cursor 508 positioned over content object 504, as inFIG. 5A. However, instead of detecting a user input that includes aclick and drag input, device 300 detects a user input that includes apress and hold input (not shown) made with mouse 350. If display 340 istouch-sensitive, the user input may include a press and hold input onthe touch-sensitive display instead of a press and hold input usingmouse 350. In response to the detection of the press and hold input,content object 504 is selected and animated as separating from document502. Also, as part of the animation, document 502 is visuallydeemphasized (e.g., by shading). FIG. 5E shows an instant in ananimation of content object 504 separating from document 502, with ashadow forming “under” content object 504. As content object 504separates from document 502, content object 504 may be displayed asbeing pulled from document 502.

FIG. 5F illustrates the result of the response to the detection of thepress and hold input. Content object 504 is displayed as separated fromdocument 502, as if the plane of content object 504 is hovering over theplane of document 502. Document 502 is visually deemphasized (asindicated by the dotted background). Further, one or more icons 514 aredisplayed near content object 504 (in this case, just below contentobject 504). Icons 514 include icons for initiating displays ofrespective user interfaces for sending content object 504 to other usersor otherwise sharing content object 504 with other users. Furtherdetails regarding icons 514 are described below.

While content object 504 is separated from document 502, the user maycease the press and hold input that activated the separation, and otheruser inputs may be detected. FIG. 5F shows cursor 508 positioned overcontent object 504 (which is separated from document 502) as device 300detects a user input (not shown) that includes a click and drag inputcorresponding to a drag and drop command to drag content object 504 indirection 516. In response to the detection of the user input,representation 511 of content object 504 is dragged in direction 516 (inthis case, to a position in document 506), shown in FIG. 5G. Icons 514cease to be displayed and document 502 ceases to be visuallydeemphasized, as shown in FIG. 5H. Content object 504 may cease to beseparated from document 502 as well. When the user input is complete,copy 512 of content object 504 is created and displayed in document 506,as shown in FIG. 5H. Thus, if a user decides to move the content objectto another electronic document, instead of sharing the content objectwith another user, the user interface seamlessly transitions from theinterface for sharing the content object with other users (whichincludes icons 514 and the content object separated from document 502)to an interface for moving the content object to another document.

FIG. 5I shows content object 504 separated from document 502 and icons514 displayed on display 340, as in FIG. 5F, but with cursor 508positioned at a location away from content object 504 and icons 514.Device 300 detects a user input (e.g., a mouse button click while cursor508 is positioned away from content object 504 and icons 514; a tapgesture at a location away from content object 504 and icons 514 (ifdisplay 340 is touch-sensitive)) (not shown). In response to thedetection of the user input, content object 504 ceases to be separatedfrom document 502, content object 504 is displayed at the same locationas prior to its separation from document 502, icons 514 cease to bedisplayed, and document 502 ceases to be visually deemphasized, as shownin FIG. 5J.

FIG. 5K shows content object 504 separated from document 502 and icons514 displayed on display 340, as in FIG. 5F, but with cursor 508positioned at a location over an icon 514. A respective icon 514 may beactivated in response to detection of a user input (e.g., a mouse buttonclick while cursor 508 is positioned over the respective icon 514; a tapgesture on the respective icon 514 (if display 340 is touch-sensitive)).

When icon 514-A is activated, display of an email composition userinterface 518 is initiated, such as that shown in FIG. 5L. In emailcomposition user interface 518, copy 520 of content object 504 isincluded inline or as an attachment in a draft email message that a usermay edit (including specifying one or more recipients of the emailmessage) and send.

When icon 514-B is activated, display of a message composition userinterface 522 is initiated, such as that shown in FIG. 5M. In messagecomposition user interface 522, copy 520 of content object 504 isincluded inline or as an attachment in a draft message (e.g., textmessage, instant message, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) message)that a user may edit (including specifying one or more recipients of themessage) and send.

When icon 514-C is activated, display of a tweet composition userinterface 524 is initiated, such as that shown in FIG. 5N. In tweetcomposition user interface 522, copy 520 of content object 504 isassociated with a tweet message that a user may edit and post to apre-specified Twitter™ account. If content object 504 is highlightedtext from document 502, copy 520 (which is a copy of the highlightedtext) is included in the text message. In some embodiments, if contentobject 504 is a non-text content object (e.g., an image), copy 520 isuploaded to a pre-specified hosting service (e.g., image hostingservice, video hosting service) and a link to copy 520 at the hostingservice is included in the tweet.

It should be appreciated that email, message, and tweet are merelyexamples of ways that content object 504 may be sent to other users orshared with other users in accordance with the embodiments describedherein. Other possible ways include posting to a social network service,a blog, or to a message board, to name just a few examples.

FIG. 50 shows content object 504 separated from document 502 and icons514 displayed on display 340, as in FIG. 5F, but with icons 514including an additional icon 514-D. Cursor 508 is shown as positionedover icon 514-D. In response to detection of a user input (e.g., a mousebutton click while cursor 508 is positioned over icon 514-D; a tapgesture on icon 514-D (if display 340 is touch-sensitive)), contentobject 504 is displayed in an editing mode, as shown in FIG. 5P.

In FIG. 5P, content object 504 is displayed in an editing mode, asindicated by area 526 that is displayed on display 340 around contentobject 504. Area 526 includes one or more icons 528 that correspond torespective editing operations or functionality. The operations orfunctionality to which respective icons 528 correspond may include, forexample, a pen/brush functionality for drawing on content object 504, aneraser functionality for removing markings drawn on content object 504,a text functionality for adding text to content object 504, a shapefunctionality for drawing shapes on content object 504, a pen/brushthickness functionality, and a pen/brush color functionality.

Area 236 also includes icon 530 that, when activated, ends the editingmode, at which point border area 526 ceases to be displayed. Contentobject 504 remains separated from document 502 and maintains anymarkings added onto content object 504 or other edits. Icons 514 arealso redisplayed. When a respective icon 514 is activated, a copy of thecontent object 504 as edited is included in the resulting email,message, or tweet.

FIG. 5Q illustrates email message composition interface 532 displayed ondisplay 340. The message being composed in email message compositioninterface 532 includes content object 534. Cursor 508 is positioned overcontent object 534. While cursor 508 is positioned over content object534, a user input that includes a press and hold input may be detected.In response to detection of the user input, area 536 is displayed aroundcontent object 534, as shown in FIGS. 5R and 5S. In some embodiments, inresponse to the press and hold input, an icon for entering an editingmode is displayed, such as icon 538 in FIG. 5R. In some otherembodiments, in response to the press and hold input (FIG. 5Q), anediting mode interface is displayed such as that shown in FIG. 5S,without display of the icon for entering an editing mode (e.g., withoutdisplaying FIG. 5R between the display of FIG. 5Q and FIG. 5S).

Area 536 includes icon 538, over which cursor 508 may be positioned. Inresponse to detection of a user input activating icon 538 (e.g., a mousebutton click while cursor 508 is positioned over icon 538; a tap gestureon icon 538 (if display 340 is touch-sensitive)), content object 534 isdisplayed in an editing mode, as shown in FIG. 5S. In some otherembodiments, icon 538 is displayed overlaid on or adjacent to contentobject 534 in FIG. 5Q (not shown), and in response to detection of auser input activating icon 538 (e.g., a mouse button click while cursor508 is positioned over icon 538; a tap gesture on icon 538 (if display340 is touch-sensitive)), content object 534 is displayed in an editingmode, as shown in FIG. 5S.

While content object 534 is displayed in the editing mode, area 536 isdisplayed around content object 534. Area 536 includes editingfunctionality icons 528 and editing mode end icon 530, which aredescribed above with reference to FIG. 5P. When the editing mode ends,content object 534 in the email message retains the edits made while inediting mode.

FIGS. 6A-6D are flow diagrams illustrating a method 600 of sharing acontent object in a document in accordance with some embodiments. Themethod 600 is performed at an electronic device (e.g., device 300, FIG.3, or portable multifunction device 100, FIG. 1) with a display andoptionally a touch-sensitive surface. In some embodiments, the displayis a touch screen display and the touch-sensitive surface is on thedisplay. In some embodiments, the display is separate from thetouch-sensitive surface. In Some operations in method 600 may becombined and/or the order of some operations may be changed.

As described below, the method 600 provides an intuitive way to share acontent object in a document. The method reduces the cognitive burden ona user when sharing content objects in a document, thereby creating amore efficient human-machine interface. For battery-operated electronicdevices, enabling a user to share content objects in a document fasterand more efficiently conserves power and increases the time betweenbattery charges.

The device concurrently displays (602) a first electronic document(e.g., a web page, word processing document, presentation document,spreadsheet, electronic book, an email message, a text message, aninstant message, or a text document) and a second electronic document(e.g., a web page, word processing document, presentation document,spreadsheet, electronic book, an email message, a text message, aninstant message, or a text document) on the display. The firstelectronic document includes a displayed content object (e.g., a digitalimage, an inline video, inline audio, text highlighted by a user, or afile attachment). FIG. 5A, for example, shows documents 502 and 506displayed on display 340. Document 502 includes content object 504 thatis also displayed.

The device detects (604) a first user input that starts on the contentobject. The first input may be detected while cursor 508 is positionedover content object 504, as shown in FIG. 5A, for example.

In response to a determination that the first user input corresponds toa first command (e.g., a drag-and-drop command), the device creates anddisplays (606) a copy of the content object in the second electronicdocument. For example, as shown in FIGS. 5A-5C, when the detected userinput includes an input that corresponds to a drag-and-drop commanddragging content object 504 to document 506, copy 512 of content object504 is created in document 506.

In some embodiments, the first input that corresponds to the firstcommand is a click and drag input made with a mouse that corresponds toa drag-and-drop command (608). In FIGS. 5A-5C, the user input mayinclude a click and drag input that is performed using a mouse, which isinitiated while cursor 508 is positioned over content object 504.

In some embodiments, the first input that corresponds to the firstcommand is a tap and drag input made with a finger on a touch-sensitivedisplay that corresponds to a drag-and-drop command (610). For example,if display 340 is a touch-sensitive display, the user input thatcorresponds to a drag-and-drop command on content object 504 may beperformed with a finger touching content object 504 and then moving thefinger on display 340.

In response to a determination that the first user input corresponds toa second command, distinct from the first command (612), the deviceselects (614) the content object, displays (616) an animation of thecontent object separating from the first electronic document, andinitiates (620) display of a plurality of icons proximate (e.g.,adjacent) to the separated content object, the plurality of iconsincluding at least one icon to initiate display of a user interface forsending the content object to one or more other users. For example, asshown in FIGS. 5D-5F, when the detected user input includes a press andhold input on content object 504, content object 504 is selected and ananimation showing content object 504 separating from document 502 isdisplayed. Also, icons 514 are displayed near content object 504. Icons514 includes respective icons for initiating display of respective userinterfaces for sending or sharing content object 504 by email, message,or tweet. In some embodiments, just one icon to initiate display of auser interface for sending the content object to one or more other usersis displayed proximate to the separated content object, instead of aplurality of icons.

In some embodiments, the animation depicts the content object beingpulled out of the first electronic document and hovering over the firstelectronic document (618). In some embodiments, the content objecthovers over its prior location in the first electronic (i.e., itslocation in the first electronic document immediately prior to beingpulled out of the first electronic document). When the separation ofcontent object 504 from document 502 is animated (FIGS. 5D-5F), theseparation may appear as if content object 504 is pulled out of document502, with the end result being an appearance of content object 504hovering over its original location in document 502 (FIG. 5F).

In some embodiments, the plurality of icons includes an icon to initiatedisplay of a user interface for sending the content object in an instantmessage to one or more other users (622). Icons 514 (FIG. 5F), forexample, may include icon 514-B to initiate display of email compositionuser interface 518 (FIG. 5M) for composing an instant message thatincludes content object 504 or a copy 520 of content object 504.

In some embodiments, the plurality of icons includes an icon to initiatedisplay of a user interface for emailing the content object to one ormore other users (624). Icons 514 (FIG. 5F), for example, may includeicon 514-A to initiate display of message composition user interface 522(FIG. 5L) for composing an email that includes content object 504 or acopy 520 of content object 504.

In some embodiments, the plurality of icons includes an icon to initiatedisplay of a user interface for tweeting the content object (626). Icons514 (FIG. 5F), for example, may include icon 514-C to initiate displayof tweet composition user interface 524 (FIG. 5N) for composing a tweetthat includes content object 504 or a copy 520 of content object 504 (ora link to either, stored at a hosting service).

In some embodiments, the plurality of icons includes an icon to initiatetweeting the content object (628). Icon 514-C (FIG. 5F) may, in lieu ofinitiating display of tweet composition user interface 524 (FIG. 5N),may initiate direct tweeting of content object 504 or a copy 520 ofcontent object 504 (or a link to either, stored at a hosting service).

In some embodiments, the plurality of icons includes an icon to initiatedisplay of a user interface for editing the content object (630). Icons514 (FIG. 50), for example, may include icon 514-D to initiate displayof a user interface (e.g., an interface that includes icons 528, FIG.5P) for editing content object 504.

In some embodiments, the first input that corresponds to the secondcommand is a press and hold input made with a mouse (e.g., a continuousmouse click for at least a predefined amount of time while a cursor ishovering over the content object) (632). For example, the user may makea continuous mouse click while cursor 508 is positioned over contentobject 504 as shown in FIG. 5D.

In some embodiments, the first input that corresponds to the secondcommand is a press and hold input made with a finger on atouch-sensitive display (e.g., a touch and hold gesture for at least apredefined amount of time at a location on the touch-sensitive surfacecorresponding to the content object) (634). If display 340 is atouch-sensitive display, the user may perform a touch and hold gestureon content object 504.

In some embodiments, in response to the determination that the firstuser input corresponds to the second command (612), the device visuallydeemphasizes (636) the first electronic document relative to theseparated content object (e.g., by shading the first electronicdocument, by making the first electronic document recede from theseparated content object, and/or by displaying the first electronicdocument as out of focus). Equivalently, the separated content objectmay be visually emphasized (e.g., by highlighting) relative to the firstelectronic document. For example, in FIG. 5F, document 504 is visuallydeemphasized (as indicated by the dotted background).

In some embodiments, while displaying the plurality of icons proximate(e.g., adjacent) to the separated content object, the device detects asecond user input (638). In response to detecting the second user input(640), the device ceases to display (642) the plurality of icons,translates (644) the separated content object in accordance with thesecond input, ceases (646) to visually deemphasize the first electronicdocument relative to the separated content object, and creates anddisplays (648) a copy of the content object in the second electronicdocument. For example, while icons 514 are displayed (and content object504 is separated from document 502), as in FIG. 5F, a user inputcorresponding to a drag-and-drop command on content object 504 may bedetected. In response to detection of the user input, icons 514 cease tobe displayed and document 502 ceases to be visually deemphasized, asshown in FIG. 5H. Content object 504 (or representation 511 of contentobject 504) is dragged (i.e., translated) across display 340 towarddocument 506 in accordance with the drag-and-drop user input. Copy 512of content object 504 is created and displayed in document 506.

In some embodiments, while displaying the plurality of icons proximate(e.g., adjacent) to the separated content object, the device detects(650) a second user input that starts on the separated content object.In response to detecting the second user input (652), the device ceases(642) to display the plurality of icons, translates (644) the separatedcontent object in accordance with the second input, and creates anddisplays (648) a copy of the content object in the second electronicdocument. Once the content object is separated, the user can stillperform a drag-and-drop operation simply by translating the contentobject instead of activating one of the plurality of icons. For example,while content object 504 is separated from document 502 and icons 514are displayed, as in FIG. 5F, a user input corresponding to adrag-and-drop command on content object 504 may be detected. In responseto detection of the user input, icons 514 cease to be displayed, asshown in FIG. 5H. Content object 504 (or a representation 511 of contentobject 504) is dragged (i.e., translated) across display 340 towarddocument 506 in accordance with the drag-and-drop user input. Copy 512of content object 504 is created and displayed in document 506.

In some embodiments, while displaying the plurality of icons proximate(e.g., adjacent) to the separated content object, the device detects(654) a third user input away from the separated content object (e.g., amouse click with the cursor located over the first electronic document,the second electronic document, or any part of the display other thanthe separated content object; or a finger tap gesture on atouch-sensitive display on the first electronic document, the secondelectronic document, or any part of the display other than the separatedcontent object). In response to detecting the third user input (656),the device ceases to display (642) the plurality of icons, ceases toseparate (658) the content object from the first electronic document,and displays (660) the content object at the location of the contentobject in the first electronic document immediately prior to detectingthe first input (and, in some embodiments, ceasing to visuallydeemphasize the first electronic document relative to the contentobject). For example, in FIG. 5I, while content object 504 is separatedfrom document 502 and icons 514 are displayed, a user input (e.g., mouseclick) is detected while cursor 508 is away from content object 504 andicons 514. In response to detection of the gesture, icons 514 cease tobe displayed, and content object 504 is displayed at its originallocation in document 502 and ceases to be separated from document 502,as shown in FIG. 5J.

It should be understood that the particular order in which theoperations in FIGS. 6A-6D have been described is merely exemplary and isnot intended to indicate that the described order is the only order inwhich the operations could be performed. One of ordinary skill in theart would recognize various ways to reorder the operations describedherein. Additionally, it should be noted that details of other processesdescribed herein with respect to methods 700 and 800 (e.g., FIGS. 7 and8 respectively) are also applicable in an analogous manner to method 600described above with respect to FIGS. 6A-6D. For example, the displayingof the animation separating the content object from the first electronicdocument and the visual deemphasizing of the first electronic documentdescribed above with reference to method 600 may have one or more of thecharacteristics of the displaying of the animation separating thecontent object from the first electronic document and the visualdeemphasizing of the first electronic document described herein withreference to methods 700 and 800. For brevity, these details are notrepeated here.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 700 of sharing a contentobject in a document in accordance with some embodiments. The method 700is performed at an electronic device (e.g., device 300, FIG. 3, orportable multifunction device 100, FIG. 1) with a display and optionallya touch-sensitive surface. In some embodiments, the display is a touchscreen display and the touch-sensitive surface is on the display. Insome embodiments, the display is separate from the touch-sensitivesurface. Some operations in method 700 may be combined and/or the orderof some operations may be changed.

As described below, the method 700 provides an intuitive way to sharecontent objects in a document. The method reduces the cognitive burdenon a user when sharing content objects in a document, thereby creating amore efficient human-machine interface. For battery-operated electronicdevices, enabling a user to share content objects in a document fasterand more efficiently conserves power and increases the time betweenbattery charges.

The device displays (702) a first electronic document (e.g., a web page,word processing document, presentation document, spreadsheet, electronicbook, an email message, a text message, an instant message, or a textdocument) on the display. The first electronic document includes adisplayed content object (e.g., a digital image, an inline video, inlineaudio, text highlighted by a user, a file attachment). FIG. 5A, forexample, shows document 502 displayed on display 340. Document 502includes content object 504 that is also displayed.

The device detects (704) a first user input on the content object. Forexample, a user input that includes a press and hold input may bedetected while cursor 508 is positioned over content object 504, asshown in FIG. 5D.

In response to detecting the first user input (706), the device selects(708) the content object, displays (710) an animation of the contentobject separating from the first electronic document, visuallydeemphasizes (712) the first electronic document relative to theseparated content object (e.g., by shading the first electronicdocument, by making the first electronic document recede from theseparated content object, and/or by displaying the first electronicdocument as out of focus), and initiates (714) display of a plurality oficons proximate (e.g., adjacent) to the separated content object, theplurality of icons including at least one icon to initiate display of auser interface for sending the content object to one or more otherusers. For example, as shown in FIGS. 5D-5F, when the detected userinput includes a press and hold input while cursor 508 is positionedover content object 504, content object 504 is selected and an animationshowing content object 504 separating from document 502 is displayed.Also, icons 514 are displayed near content object 504. Additionally,document 504 is visually deemphasized (as indicated by the dottedbackground).

With respect to the visual deemphasizing, equivalently, the separatedcontent object may be visually emphasized (e.g., by highlighting)relative to the first electronic document.

It should be understood that the particular order in which theoperations in FIG. 7 has been described is merely exemplary and is notintended to indicate that the described order is the only order in whichthe operations could be performed. One of ordinary skill in the artwould recognize various ways to reorder the operations described herein.Additionally, it should be noted that details of other processesdescribed herein with respect to methods 600 and 800 (e.g., FIGS. 6A-6Dand 8 respectively) are also applicable in an analogous manner to method700 described above with respect to FIG. 7. For example, the displayingof the animation and the visual deemphasizing described above withreference to method 700 may have one or more of the characteristics ofthe displaying of the animation and the visual deemphasizing describedherein with reference to methods 600 and 800. For brevity, these detailsare not repeated here.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of displaying an editinginterface for a content object in a document in accordance with someembodiments. The method 800 is performed at an electronic device (e.g.,device 300, FIG. 3, or portable multifunction device 100, FIG. 1) with adisplay and optionally a touch-sensitive surface. In some embodiments,the display is a touch screen display and the touch-sensitive surface ison the display. In some embodiments, the display is separate from thetouch-sensitive surface. Some operations in method 800 may be combinedand/or the order of some operations may be changed.

As described below, the method 800 provides an intuitive way to displayan editing interface for a content object. The method reduces thecognitive burden on a user when editing a content object in a document,thereby creating a more efficient human-machine interface. Forbattery-operated electronic devices, enabling a user to edit objects ina document faster and more efficiently conserves power and increases thetime between battery charges.

The device displays (802) a first electronic document (e.g., a web page,word processing document, presentation document, spreadsheet, electronicbook, an email message, a text message, an instant message, or a textdocument) on the display. The first electronic document includes adisplayed content object (e.g., a digital image, an inline video, inlineaudio, text highlighted by a user, a file attachment). FIG. 5Q, forexample, shows document 532 displayed on display 340. Document 532includes content object 534 that is also displayed.

The device detects (804) a first user input. In some embodiments, thefirst input starts on the content object. For example, a user input thatincludes a press and hold input may be detected while cursor 508 ispositioned over content object 504, as shown in FIG. 5Q, or activationof icon 538 (FIG. 5R).

In response to detecting the first user input (806), the device selects(808) the content object, displays (810) an animation of the contentobject separating from the first electronic document, visuallydeemphasizes (812) the first electronic document relative to theseparated content object (e.g., by shading the first electronicdocument, by making the first electronic document recede from theseparated content object, and/or by displaying the first electronicdocument as out of focus), and initiates (814) display of a plurality ofediting icons proximate (e.g., adjacent) to the separated contentobject. For example, as shown in FIGS. 5Q and 5S, when the detected userinput includes a press and hold input while cursor 508 is positionedover content object 534 (or over an icon like 538, not shown in FIG.5Q), content object 534 is selected and an animation showing contentobject 534 separating from document 532 is displayed. Also, editingicons 528 are displayed near content object 534. Additionally, document532 is visually deemphasized (as indicated by the dotted background).

With respect to the visual deemphasizing, equivalently, the separatedcontent object may be visually emphasized (e.g., by highlighting)relative to the first electronic document.

It should be understood that the particular order in which theoperations in FIG. 8 has been described is merely exemplary and is notintended to indicate that the described order is the only order in whichthe operations could be performed. One of ordinary skill in the artwould recognize various ways to reorder the operations described herein.Additionally, it should be noted that details of other processesdescribed herein with respect to methods 600 and 700 (e.g., FIGS. 6A-6Dand 7 respectively) are also applicable in an analogous manner to method800 described above with respect to FIG. 8. For example, the displayingof the animation and the visual deemphasizing described above withreference to method 800 may have one or more of the characteristics ofthe displaying of the animation and the visual deemphasizing describedherein with reference to methods 600 and 700. For brevity, these detailsare not repeated here.

In accordance with some embodiments, FIG. 9 shows a functional blockdiagram of an electronic device 900 configured in accordance with theprinciples of the invention as described above. The functional blocks ofthe device may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination ofhardware and software to carry out the principles of the invention. Itis understood by persons of skill in the art that the functional blocksdescribed in FIG. 9 may be combined or separated into sub-blocks toimplement the principles of the invention as described above. Therefore,the description herein may support any possible combination orseparation or further definition of the functional blocks describedherein.

As shown in FIG. 9, an electronic device 900 includes a display unit 902configured to concurrently display a first electronic document and asecond electronic document on the display unit 902, the first electronicdocument including a displayed content object; and a processing unit 906coupled to the display unit 902. In some embodiments, the processingunit 906 includes a detecting unit 908, a creating unit 910, a displayenabling unit 912, a selecting unit 914, a display initiating unit 916,a visual deemphasizing unit 918, a ceasing unit 920, and a translatingunit 922.

The processing unit 906 is configured to: detect a first user input thatstarts on the content object (e.g., with the detecting unit 908); inresponse to a determination that the first user input corresponds to afirst command, create and enable display of a copy of the content objectin the second electronic document (e.g., with the creating unit 910 andthe display enabling unit 912); and, in response to a determination thatthe first user input corresponds to a second command, distinct from thefirst command: select the content object (e.g., with the selecting unit914), enable display of an animation of the content object separatingfrom the first electronic document (e.g., with the display enabling unit912), and initiate display of a plurality of icons proximate to theseparated content object, the plurality of icons including at least oneicon to initiate display of a user interface for sending the contentobject to one or more other users (e.g., with the display initiatingunit 916).

In some embodiments, the first input that corresponds to the firstcommand is a click and drag input made with a mouse that corresponds toa drag-and-drop command.

In some embodiments, the first input that corresponds to the firstcommand is a tap and drag input made with a finger on a touch-sensitivedisplay unit 902 that corresponds to a drag-and-drop command.

In some embodiments, the first input that corresponds to the secondcommand is a press and hold input made with a mouse.

In some embodiments, the first input that corresponds to the secondcommand is a press and hold input made with a finger on atouch-sensitive display unit 902.

In some embodiments, the animation depicts the content object beingpulled out of the first electronic document and hovering over the firstelectronic document.

In some embodiments, the processing unit 906 is configured to: inresponse to the determination that the first user input corresponds tothe second command, visually deemphasize the first electronic documentrelative to the separated content object (e.g., with the visualdeemphasizing unit 918).

In some embodiments, the processing unit 906 is configured to: whiledisplaying the plurality of icons proximate to the separated contentobject, detect a second user input (e.g., with the detecting unit 908);in response to detecting the second user input: cease to display theplurality of icons (e.g., with the ceasing unit 920), translate theseparated content object in accordance with the second input (e.g., withthe translating unit 922), cease to visually deemphasize the firstelectronic document relative to the separated content object (e.g., withthe ceasing unit 920), and create and enable display of a copy of thecontent object in the second electronic document (e.g., with thecreating unit 910 and the display enabling unit 912).

In some embodiments, wherein the plurality of icons includes an icon toinitiate display of a user interface for sending the content object inan instant message to one or more other users.

In some embodiments, the plurality of icons includes an icon to initiatedisplay of a user interface for emailing the content object to one ormore other users.

In some embodiments, the plurality of icons includes an icon to initiatedisplay of a user interface for tweeting the content object.

In some embodiments, the plurality of icons includes an icon to initiatetweeting the content object.

In some embodiments, the plurality of icons includes an icon to initiatedisplay of a user interface for editing the content object.

In some embodiments, the processing unit 906 is configured to: whiledisplaying the plurality of icons proximate to the separated contentobject, detecting a second user input that starts on the separatedcontent object (e.g., with the detecting unit 908); in response todetecting the second user input: cease to display the plurality of icons(e.g., with the ceasing unit 920), translate the separated contentobject in accordance with the second input (e.g., with the translatingunit 922), and create and enable display of a copy of the content objectin the second electronic document (e.g., with the creating unit 910 andthe display enabling unit 912).

In some embodiments, the processing unit 906 is configured to: whiledisplaying the plurality of icons proximate to the separated contentobject, detecting a third user input away from the separated contentobject (e.g., with the detecting unit 908); in response to detecting thethird user input: cease to display the plurality of icons (e.g., withthe ceasing unit 920), cease to separate the content object from thefirst electronic document (e.g., with the ceasing unit 920), and enabledisplay of the content object at the location of the content object inthe first electronic document immediately prior to detecting the firstinput (e.g., with the display enabling unit 912).

In accordance with some embodiments, FIG. 10 shows a functional blockdiagram of an electronic device 1000 configured in accordance with theprinciples of the invention as described above. The functional blocks ofthe device may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination ofhardware and software to carry out the principles of the invention. Itis understood by persons of skill in the art that the functional blocksdescribed in FIG. 10 may be combined or separated into sub-blocks toimplement the principles of the invention as described above. Therefore,the description herein may support any possible combination orseparation or further definition of the functional blocks describedherein.

As shown in FIG. 10, an electronic device 1000 includes a display unit1002 configured to display a first electronic document on the displayunit 1002, the first electronic document including a displayed contentobject; and a processing unit 1006 coupled to the display unit 1002. Insome embodiments, the processing unit 1006 includes a detecting unit1008, a display enabling unit 1012, a selecting unit 1014, a displayinitiating unit 1016, and a visual deemphasizing unit 1018. Theprocessing unit 1006 is configured to: detect a first user input on thecontent object (e.g., with the detecting unit 1008); and in response todetecting the first user input: select the content object (e.g., withthe selecting unit 1014), enable display of an animation of the contentobject separating from the first electronic document (e.g., with thedisplay enabling unit 1012), visually deemphasize the first electronicdocument relative to the separated content object (e.g., with the visualdeemphasizing unit 1018), and initiate display of a plurality of iconsproximate to the separated content object, the plurality of iconsincluding at least one icon to initiate display of a user interface forsending the content object to one or more other users (e.g., with thedisplay initiating unit 1016).

In some embodiments, electronic device 1000 includes a display unit 1002configured to display a first electronic document on the display unit1002, the first electronic document including a displayed contentobject; and a processing unit 1006 coupled to the display unit 1002. Insome embodiments, the processing unit 1006 includes a detecting unit1008, a display enabling unit 1012, a selecting unit 1014, a displayinitiating unit 1016, and a visual deemphasizing unit 1018. Theprocessing unit 1006 is configured to: detect a first user input (e.g.,with the detecting unit 1008); and in response to detecting the firstuser input: select the content object (e.g., with the selecting unit1014), enable display of an animation of the content object separatingfrom the first electronic document (e.g., with the display enabling unit1012), visually deemphasize the first electronic document relative tothe separated content object (e.g., with the visual deemphasizing unit1018), and initiate display of a plurality of editing icons proximate tothe separated content object (e.g., with the display initiating unit1016).

The operations in the information processing methods described above maybe implemented by running one or more functional modules in informationprocessing apparatus such as general purpose processors or applicationspecific chips. These modules, combinations of these modules, and/ortheir combination with general hardware (e.g., as described above withrespect to FIGS. 1A, 3, 9-10) are all included within the scope ofprotection of the invention.

The operations described above with reference to FIGS. 6A-6D, 7-8 may beimplemented by components depicted in FIGS. 1A-1B. For example,detection operation 604, creating and displaying operation 606,selecting operation 614, displaying operation 616, and displayinitiating operation 620 may be implemented by event sorter 170, eventrecognizer 180, and event handler 190. Event monitor 171 in event sorter170 detects a contact on touch-sensitive display 112, and eventdispatcher module 174 delivers the event information to application136-1. A respective event recognizer 180 of application 136-1 comparesthe event information to respective event definitions 186, anddetermines whether a first contact at a first location on thetouch-sensitive surface corresponds to a predefined event or sub-event,such as selection of an object on a user interface. When a respectivepredefined event or sub-event is detected, event recognizer 180activates an event handler 190 associated with the detection of theevent or sub-event. Event handler 190 may utilize or call data updater176 or object updater 177 to update the application internal state 192.In some embodiments, event handler 190 accesses a respective GUI updater178 to update what is displayed by the application. Similarly, it wouldbe clear to a person having ordinary skill in the art how otherprocesses can be implemented based on the components depicted in FIGS.1A-1B.

The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has beendescribed with reference to specific embodiments. However, theillustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modificationsand variations are possible in view of the above teachings. Theembodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and its practical applications, to therebyenable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention andvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device, comprising: a display; oneor more processors; memory; and one or more programs, wherein the one ormore programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed bythe one or more processors, the one or more programs includinginstructions for: concurrently displaying a first electronic documentand a second electronic document on the display, the first electronicdocument including a displayed content object; detecting a first userinput that starts on the content object; in response to a determinationthat the first user input corresponds to a first command, creating anddisplaying a copy of the content object in the second electronicdocument; and, in response to a determination that the first user inputcorresponds to a second command, distinct from the first command:selecting the content object; displaying an animation of the contentobject separating from the first electronic document; and initiatingdisplay of a plurality of icons proximate to the separated contentobject, the plurality of icons including at least one icon to initiatedisplay of a user interface for sending the content object to one ormore other users.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the first input thatcorresponds to the first command is a click and drag input made with amouse that corresponds to a drag-and-drop command.
 3. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the first input that corresponds to the first commandis a tap and drag input made with a finger on a touch-sensitive displaythat corresponds to a drag-and-drop command.
 4. The device of claim 1,wherein the first input that corresponds to the second command is apress and hold input made with a mouse.
 5. The device of claim 1,wherein the first input that corresponds to the second command is apress and hold input made with a finger on a touch-sensitive display. 6.The device of claim 1, wherein the animation depicts the content objectbeing pulled out of the first electronic document and hovering over thefirst electronic document.
 7. The device of claim 1, includinginstructions for: in response to the determination that the first userinput corresponds to the second command: visually deemphasizing thefirst electronic document relative to the separated content object. 8.The device of claim 7, including instructions for: while displaying theplurality of icons proximate to the separated content object, detectinga second user input; in response to detecting the second user input:ceasing to display the plurality of icons, translating the separatedcontent object in accordance with the second input, ceasing to visuallydeemphasize the first electronic document relative to the separatedcontent object, and creating and displaying a copy of the content objectin the second electronic document.
 9. The device of claim 1, wherein theplurality of icons includes an icon to initiate display of a userinterface for sending the content object in an instant message to one ormore other users.
 10. The device of claim 1, wherein the plurality oficons includes an icon to initiate display of a user interface foremailing the content object to one or more other users.
 11. The deviceof claim 1, wherein the plurality of icons includes an icon to initiatedisplay of a user interface for tweeting the content object.
 12. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the plurality of icons includes an icon toinitiate tweeting the content object.
 13. The device of claim 1, whereinthe plurality of icons includes an icon to initiate display of a userinterface for editing the content object.
 14. The device of claim 1,including instructions for: while displaying the plurality of iconsproximate to the separated content object, detecting a second user inputthat starts on the separated content object; in response to detectingthe second user input: ceasing to display the plurality of icons,translating the separated content object in accordance with the secondinput, and creating and displaying a copy of the content object in thesecond electronic document.
 15. The device of claim 1, includinginstructions for: while displaying the plurality of icons proximate tothe separated content object, detecting a third user input away from theseparated content object; in response to detecting the third user input:ceasing to display the plurality of icons, ceasing to separate thecontent object from the first electronic document, and displaying thecontent object at the location of the content object in the firstelectronic document immediately prior to detecting the first input. 16.An electronic device, comprising: a display; one or more processors;memory; and one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs arestored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or moreprocessors, the one or more programs including instructions for:displaying a first electronic document on the display, the firstelectronic document including a displayed content object; detecting afirst user input on the content object; and in response to detecting thefirst user input: selecting the content object; displaying an animationof the content object separating from the first electronic document;visually deemphasizing the first electronic document relative to theseparated content object; and initiating display of a plurality of iconsproximate to the separated content object, the plurality of iconsincluding at least one icon to initiate display of a user interface forsending the content object to one or more other users.
 17. An electronicdevice, comprising: a display; one or more processors; memory; and oneor more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in thememory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, theone or more programs including instructions for: displaying a firstelectronic document on the display, the first electronic documentincluding a displayed content object; detecting a first user input; andin response to detecting the first user input: selecting the contentobject; displaying an animation of the content object separating fromthe first electronic document; visually deemphasizing the firstelectronic document relative to the separated content object; andinitiating display of a plurality of editing icons proximate to theseparated content object.